At last a chance to taste the winning wines (and
several others) that we have heard about over the last few weeks. The judges
are right, South African wine continues to improve and reach higher and higher
standards. There were some knockout examples. At a large tasting like this we
aim to taste as many trophy wines as possible and then fit in others. We find
that this competition really does seem to drive quality, progress and
innovation in the industry.
The fairly controversial wine that won the Trophy for
the Best Shiraz and the best red wine overall Mount Sutherland Syrah from the
Sneeuwberg mountains was very interesting. We didn’t find it to be an in your
face fruit bomb, it is much more restrained, elegant and tight with some
tannins but you can see the potential and why it scored 96 points. Saronsberg
also scored 96 points and a gold medal for their elegant and structured
Provenance Shiraz 2012 and this is ready to be enjoyed now.
The Chardonnays we tasted were exemplary, especially
Trophy winner and best white wine on Show Mulderbosch 2013, Richness and
freshness is what winemaker Adam Mason says he want – he has got it Museum
Class trophy winner Chamonix Reserve 2008 really charmed us with it crisp acidity
holding onto the lovely layers of golden fruit. And gold medallist Iona 2013
might just have to be put into our cellar soon. The Discovery of the Show
Baleia Bay is there already.
We could cover pages with recommendations for many,
many more of these wines. Ifyou see a wine with one of these awards and you can
afford it buy a bottle to try and then buy some more if you like it. One you won’t
be able to find is the KWV 1930 LBV Muscadel which won a gold medal in the
museum class. What an extraordinary wine and how fortunate we were to get some
in our glass, so thick and syrupy, so balsamic and yet still a joy to taste. Why
do we ignore, neglect and not appreciate our superb sweet wines? They are one
of the best jewels in our wine varietals
A good crowd gathers at the beginning of the evening
De Kranz makes
excellent ports and they bear many awards, including this year’s Tony Mossop
Old Mutual Trophy for the best Cape Port for their Cape Vintage Reserve 2011. The 2010 was the last of this style of wine to carry (legally) the appellation Port. After that, descriptions like Cape Vintage Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage etc. may be used, as long as we don't say "Port", even though the palate tells you that that's what they are!
Boets Nel
looking deservedly proud of the Trophy
Boets Nel
chatting to Christian Eedes, Publisher and editor of Wine Magazine on line
Elsie Pells, Cape
Wine Master, on the Bon Courage stand
Abrie Beeslaar’s lovely ladies with his 2012 Pinotage
Brendan
Butler, winemaker at Nitida, having fun tasting - for a change
Winemaker
Werner Muller with the superb Iona 96 point Gold Medal Chardonnay
Kyle Zulch, winemaker with Daniël de Waal at Super Single Vineyards. Their Mount Sutherland
Shiraz won two trophies: Best Red wine Overall and Best Shiraz
Zia du Toit from
Ormonde and their Ondine 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and Mark Norrish of Ultra Liquors with
his Secret Cellar sauvignon blanc and also the trophy winning best MCC, the Table Bay Blanc de Blanc NV
Ollo Parker of
Altydgedacht and his lovely ladies with their trophy for the superbly floral Weisser
Riesling 2013
Tariro Masayiti
and Hildegard Witbooi of Springfontein with their 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. Incidentally,
several of the Nederburg award winning wines this year were made by Tariro when
he was white wine maker there.
John enjoying
a taste of the De Wetshof MCC with Marketing Manager Bennie Stipp.
We are very fond of this wine
The Convention
Centre on a crisp, still winter’s evening
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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